


Lucky. Three.

by pollitt



Category: Shelter (2007)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-06-09
Updated: 2008-06-09
Packaged: 2017-10-05 14:52:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pollitt/pseuds/pollitt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Love is more than skin deep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky. Three.

**Author's Note:**

> Beta credit to Maverick

Shaun runs his fingernail lightly over the script inked on Zach's bicep, watching the tiny goose bumps as they appear in the wake of his touch.

Zach had been seventeen and Shaun had been down visiting when Gabe had wiped out royally on his skateboard, taking out the side of his jeans from hip to knee and leaving his thigh looking not unlike hamburger had been attached to his side. When the bleeding had stopped and Gabe had changed--after an almost disturbing long time walking around looking like he'd been on the losing end of a fight--he'd decided to celebrate the injury with some ink. And of course he'd brought Zach and Shaun with him. Zach because where one of them went, the other was never far behind, and Shaun… well, someone had to be the adult and sign Larry's name on the credit card slip.

Tia was the owner of Ta2 and had been a classmate of Shaun's before she'd dropped out of high school and started her own tattoo shop. She'd done his first tattoo on what would've been both of their graduation day and by the time she'd gotten to the detail work, he'd told her his secret. Which had apparently been no secret to her at all.

He'd made sure to stop into her shop whenever he was home, and so when Gabe had announced it was time for his first inking, Shaun had known where to take him.

Gabe had flirted shamelessly and Tia ate it up, laughing at Shaun's kid brother's moves and manhandling him onto her table. While Gabe was plotting his "wicked idea" of waves crashing on the thigh not currently bearing road rash, Zach had settled onto a chair at an open table. Tia pointed at the stacks of binders bearing pictures of her work and told Zach to start thinking of what he wanted.

Zach had looked through the books. Shaun had looked at Zach.

Shaun shifts closer to Zach on the bed, his fingertips retracing the words again. "I think that was the first time I'd realized how much art meant to you. By the time Gabe was done, you weren't through the second book. And when Tia asked if you'd found what you wanted, I think you'd forgotten you were there to get a tattoo."

"I already knew what I wanted, even if I didn't quite realize it yet," Zach says, looking from under his eyelashes over at Shaun. It could be the first time or the hundredth; Shaun's heart feels like it's doing a salsa against his breastbone when Zach does that.

Zach leans forward and brushes his lips over Shaun's chest. "I remember you watching me."

"I couldn't help it," Shaun confesses, running his fingers against the grain of Zach's hair, from his nape to the crown of his head and back down again. His thumb grazes over the ridges of Zach's spine, brushing over the slightly different feel of the skin where he knows Zach's tattoo is. "Did she do this one, too?"

Zach closes the distance between their bodies, wrapping his arms around Shaun's shoulders and bringing their mouth's together. In between kisses, he confides. "She did. You weren't the only one who told her things."

Shaun feels his face heating up, as though his secret was being found out for the first time again.

He catches Zach's hand and brings it to his lips, nipping lightly at the marked skin of Zach's wrist. "And this?"

"She did 'em all." Zach allows Shaun to pull him until he's draped over him, his body is a comfortable weight, familiar and desired. Zach's breath is hot against Shaun's ear as he leans in to whisper, "I had a lot to tell."

Zach kisses just behind Shaun's ear, where the skin is still tender. Beneath his lips is three-day old ink, the curves and swoops of Zach's signature. Shaun reaches for Zach's face, holds him as he guides Zach's mouth back to his. He lets his fingers slide over Zach's jaw, searching for the matching tender spot in the space between Zach's ear and his hairline, where his own signature has marked Zach's skin.

It was only fitting that Tia had done these as well. She had been there from the beginning, marking the time and their secrets. But these latest tattoos, rather than masking a secret, these had been making a declaration.

One as permanent as the ink on their skin.


End file.
